The present invention relates to a method of and system for storing and retrieving an article. More particularly this invention concerns such an arrangement wherein a multiplicity of articles can be stored in a relatively limited space and each article can be relatively easily retrieved from its space.
In a standard filing system cabinets, shelves or the like are arranged in rows each of which opens into an aisle. In order to retrieve a file or article from any of the cabinets or shelves it is simply necessary to go to the appropriate aisle and remove it from the holder at this aisle. It has been suggested in file systems to reduce the floor space by only providing enough room for a single aisle, making all of the cabinets displaceable so that it is possible to open up this aisle between any two cabinets, thereby giving access to any cabinet simply by opening up the system so that the aisle is in front of this cabinet. This arrangement is, indeed, a considerable improvement over the prior-art system which requires at least one aisle for every two sets of cabinets, but nonetheless requires the person seeking access to the cabinets to move about within the system. Furthermore it is frequently necessary to move virtually all of the cabinets of the system in order to gain access to a single article stored in the system, so that maintenance costs and service life are reduced.
It has also been suggested to mount all of the articles which are to be retrieved on an endless track adjacent which is provided an access station. Thus the person seeking access to one of the articles need merely set the train of articles in motion until the article being sought is aligned with the access station, whereupon it can be removed from the track. This system again requires displacement of every stored article each time one is sought, and nonetheless takes up considerable floor space. What is more such systems are relatively slow in that a person seeking access to a particular article must often wait for at least half of the articles to pass by before the appropriate article is aligned with the access station.